Andalusia to face Thomasville
Published 11:59 pm Thursday, February 5, 2009
No. 1 Andalusia could have its hands full tonight as the Bulldogs face Thomasville in Andalusia in a must-win game.
The Bulldogs (21-2, 6-0 in Class 4A, Area 3) have not been on the court since defeating Opp last Friday night, 75-39, to end their regular season.
Andalusia coach Richard Robertson said his team will not take anything for granted going into tonight’s game.
“It’s a new season now,” Robertson said. “We are undefeated in the area, but that doesn’t mean anything. The only thing we’ve done now is settle where the ball game is going to be played. We need to play well and (Thomasville) is playing well too.”
Robertson added his team will need to play at capacity tonight to be effective.
“We’ve just got to play them,” he said. “That’s the way it’s supposed to be. We don’t go out there and worry about the level of the opponent. We’re supposed to be playing to our maximum ability and that’s what we’re going to try and do.”
Robertson said at practice his team has been trying to eliminate the “mistakes and turnovers we’ve been making all year.”
“We’ve got to try to eliminate those and we haven’t done that,” Robertson said. “That’s what they’ve had me upset with them the whole year. We’ll go out and play two quarters and three quarters and I want to go out there and play four quarters.”
The last time Andalusia and Thomasville met was on Jan. 23, where the Bulldogs clinched the area by the score of 63-54.
“They had us down 14-15 (points) and we came back and beat them,” Robertson said. “The first time we beat them was by 39. We didn’t show up and thought we couldn’t get beat. During that time we wanted to get out with a victory and get home to regroup from week one in the area.”
Robertson said getting out to an early lead is a must.
“We’re going to get out in the lead early and whatever plan they have you can destroy it,” he said. “If they can play with you and they get a lead on you, you don’t know what their plan might be. Then, you’ve got to try and prepare for that.”
Some of the other things Andalusia will be doing tonight, Robertson said, are to “play mistake free, take control of the ball game and don’t look back.”
“That’s what we want to do,” he said. “We want to take control and work our tail off to get in the dressing room with a win and then, Saturday morning, start to work on the next opponent whoever that may be.
“It’s a one-game season now and we’ve got to win (tonight) to turn it into a two-game season and then after that it’ll be a one-game season again. You don’t have room for error.”
Tip off tonight is at 7 p.m. in Andalusia.